The Distance
by youngrenegade
Summary: A one shot based on 10x19 "Dominion" Lois tells Clark that he'd been gone for three weeks, when it only felt like hours for him in the Phantom Zone. What was Lois doing during those three weeks?


"I know this is hard, and I understand that you love Clark and you'd do anything not to lose him." Tess' voice sounds in despair.

Lois pulls out a gun from beneath the table and points it a Tess.

"You bet I would," She says still pointing the gun right at her chest.

Tess tries to reason with her so she doesn't do anything irrational.

"Lois." Tess takes a long pause. "I don't wanna give up on Clark either. I don't, but we have a responsibility. To not put the world at risk for selfish reasons. Which is what you're doing by waiting to see him again."

"I will not let you sacrifice him!" Lois' voice quivers.

"Being with a hero means accepting that hero's sacrifices," Tess tells her calmly.

That's where you're wrong, being a hero's wife means never accepting defeat." Lois says defensively.

"Lois, please put the gun down, you're not thinking clearly." Tess slowly goes up to Lois and puts her hands on the gun, lowering it.

"Tess you know deep down in your heart that I'm right. I'm not the only person that needs him. Metropolis needs him as well. So don't you stand there and let portal blow up. Close it."

Tess goes over the computer and stops the countdown.

"How could he not tell me? I can't live with this constant worry, not knowing if he'll ever come back to me." Lois says heartbroken.

Tess reaches out for her and wraps her in an embrace.

"I know Clark, and he will come back, Lois. It's only a matter of time. I think we've been through much worse and Clark has come through." Tess reassures Lois.

Lois knew that Tess was right, as much as she hated it. She knew in her heart that Clark would find a way. "You know what? you're right. Clark is the strongest person I know, and I will not doubt for a second that he will do anything to come back to me." Lois gives her a half smile.

Tess smiles back at her. "In the meantime, let's try to do everything on our end to bring Oliver and Clark back."

Hours pass and they still haven't figured a way to get the communication back on.

"I think we've tried everything Lois."

"We can't just give up yet! C'mon Tess! Clark and I are supposed to get married in a few weeks! I can't just call the guests and cancel it. I don't care how long it takes!"

"Lois we've been at it for hours. Why don't you go home and take a shower? Distract yourself. I'll stay here if anything happens and I'll keep you updated. We can even take turns here that way we can both have breaks." Tess tells her.

"I can't just go home! I need to stay here in case something goes wrong. I need to be here when he comes back." Lois says.

"It's okay, I told you that I would call you if anything happens. See you back here in a few." Tess reassures her.

"Please keep me update," Lois says.

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Lois heads out from watch tower and goes home. She opens the front door and looks around her and Clark's apartment. She feels tears coming. She tries to calm herself down but she can't bear the thought of not having a world without Clark. This apartment is a symbol of their future together. This can't be the end. She thinks. I know that he won't leave me here by myself. He loves me too much to cause me any pain. She looks over at the table, there's a picture frame of them together. She picks it up and hovers her fingers over Clark's face. She lets the tear she was holding back come down. She's not sure how so made it their bed. Laying there, holding the picture frame close to her chest. Crying herself to sleep.

She woke up startled. She started to feel around for Clark, hoping that it was just some kind of bad dream. She didn't feel him next to her and then it hit her. This wasn't a dream, it was reality. She sat up on her bed, back against the headboard. Sitting in the dark with her thoughts. She looked at her alarm clock and it only read 2:34 am, it was still early. She checked her phone for any texts or calls from Tess. None.

She stood up from her bed and walked to the kitchen. She started to make herself a fresh pot of coffee. She needed to keep herself busy because god knows her mind wanders off to terrible places. The truth was she was terrified, but she had so much trust in Clark, she knew he would find a way to come back to her.

Her phone goes off and she looks at it.

Tess: your turn.

She grabs a travel mug and fills it up with the fresh pot of coffee. She gets another travel mug for Tess. She's about to head out when she spots her white snake throw pillow. She looks at it and it reminds her of Clark. She grabs it and tries to balance her car keys, the travel mugs, and the throw pillow. She puts the throw pillow in her purse and get in her car and drives off.

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Lois arrives at Watchtower and Tess looks exhausted.

"Here, thought you might need this." She hands her the travel mug.

"Thank you, you didn't have too," Tess said.

"Nonsense," said Lois "You've been at it all day and it's the least I could do. Thank you again for turning off the portal bomb. I knew you'd come around." Lois said.

"It's not everyday someone can change my mind, Lane."

"it's called perspective, I know it was selfish but the world needs Clark as much as I need him. What would the world be without "the blur?" It would be chaos." Lois rebutted.

"Well, I've tried to reestablish the connection but no use," Tess said while sipping on the coffee Lois gave her.

"Might always put my nerves to good use. I'm not good just staying still. Go home Tess, get some rest."

"Right... well I'll have my cellphone on me. Call me if anything happens."

Tess grabbed her things and headed back to her apartment.

Lois pulls the white snake throw out of her purse and puts it behind her chair.

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After all the back and forth at watchtower Tess and Lois decided to call the league and see if they could help them with getting Oliver and Clark back. Victor, AC, and Bart met Tess and Lois at Watchtower. "What if we send one of us into the phantom zone? We could find them and bring them back." AC suggested. "No that's too risky, we haven't been in this phantom zone, we'd be on unknown ground. who knows what could happen?" Victor said.

"Well, what else can we do? Wait Lois didn't you go in the Phantom Zone once?" Bart asked her.

"I have but-"

"Are you crazy Bart? How could we send her there? She has no powers and Clark would kill us. I would like to keep myself intact, thank you very much!" Victor scolded him.

Bart looked down "Sorry Lois, I'm not sure what I'm thinking." Lois gave him a slight smile.

"Well the only thing we can do is wait, if I know one thing it's that Oliver and Clark can overcome anything," Victor said.

In the meantime, we'll help Clark with his hero duties while he's gone. Metropolis is very vulnerable without him." AC suggested. "Call us on any updates?" Victor said.

"We'll do, thanks, guys," Tess said.

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Lois channeled all her anxiety by getting her and Clark's apartment set up and being at Watchtower. By the time she knew it, the house was almost complete. Guess all that camping out and setting up the apartment, made time seem not so long. Their wedding day was rapidly approaching but she couldn't bring up to postpone it. She believed the Clark world come before the big day, and even if he didn't, she didn't care. She would marry him in 3 months, 2 years, a decade, as long as she had him.

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It had officially been three weeks since Clark and Oliver had been in the Phantom Zone. Tess and Lois have built a pretty good system on taking turns at the watchtower. It was Lois' turn at Watchtower. Lois woke up from an afternoon nap that day. She had her hair in a messy bun and only had Clark's long flannel on. She was in the kitchen making snacks for her and Tess because she was patrolling tonight. She slowly walks out the kitchen to place the snacks in her purse below her white snake throw. From her peripheral vision, she sees a silhouette. Her heart leaps. Could it be? Is he really here, and not a figment of her imagination? She looks over and she can't help but feel so much relief. He really is here! He's okay. Her eyes start to get glossy

"Clark" she whispers. She comes towards him and hugs him.

"I knew you'd make it," she said.

"I told you I would." He said,

enjoying the warmth of her embrace. He looks around the nonempty apartment.

"What happened to taking the time to merge our lives together? Finding the right place for everything?"

She nervously goes around him behind the coffee table and plays with her hands.

"Oh! you know me. Waiting isn't exactly my strong suit. So I guess nervous energy equals power unpacking."

Amused he looks at her "But what you'd do? Enlist John Jones and Bart? There's no way you could've." It then hits him. What if he and Oliver had been in the phantom zone for weeks, maybe months. He had to ask. "How long were we gone?"

She looks at him "Three weeks."

Just as he thought, how could she have done this in merely hours?

"We were only in there for a few hours. The crystal crushing, it must have altered time. So a few hours for me was almost a month for you."

She nods

He was surprised how long she could have waited for him. "You waited all that time?"

"Well, the league decided that it wasn't safe to send any more people in after you, so Tess and I took turns camping out at Watchtower. Trying to re-established contact with you and Oliver."

Her mind wandered for a while,

all those days at Watchtower sleeping with her throw pillow. Her voiced wavered.

"I — I brought the pillow with me for downtime because .. well, it reminds me of you now .. silly huh?"

She looks at him.

He remembered that Tess was supposed to blow up the entrance after three hours, and he wondered if she knew that. "After three hours Tess was supposed"

She cut him off

"Blow up the gate? Yea... Tess and I had a little unexpected heart to heart about your secret plan. I brought her around to see things my way" She takes a deep breath "I just .. I wish you could have a little faith in me too." She looks at him with glossy eyes.

Realizing how he made her feel. "Lois I didn't want you to have to make that kind of choice I was trying to... He steps a little closer to her.

She cut him off once again. "Protect me? I know."

She takes a few steps in front of him.

"but you're part of me now, Clark. A half of a whole. So in the future, If there's even a chance, that the mission might claim my better half. Sign me up. Because I'd rather be in some sand blown purgatory with you, than in a hell not knowing if I'll ever see you again."

He walks closer to her, enclosing the gap between them.

"Lois, I am so sorry, I try to make choices using my human side but sometimes my Kryptonian side takes over. I try to control the situation. Instead of hiding that side, I should try to help you understand it.

She laughs lightly.

"You needs to put that on your wedding vows."

His face goes full alert. "The wedding?"

Lois smiles, "Yea, t-minus 2 days

Surprised, "You didn't postpone it?"

She puts her hands on his face. "No, I couldn't. Believing that you would come back to me was the only thing that kept me going."

He smiles at her.

She takes her hands off him, "but if you wanna postpone, that's fine." She tells him understandingly

He puts his hands on her face.

"Lois... "

"Hm? "

"There's nothing in this world that could prevent me from walking down that aisle."

They hug and stay in each other embraces. God did it feel so good to have each other back.


End file.
